82 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Feb. 9, 1899. 



pounds of wax secreted. Seems to me he has g-ot that more 

 than twice as larg-e as it should be. Cogitator himself 

 thinks the current ratios should be hauled down a long way. 

 and that a few hot shot thrown into them are seldom amiss; 

 but let us beware of reckless overstatements. The conclu- 

 sion that 25 pounds of comb honey should equal 90 pounds 

 of extracted falls throug-h if 20 pounds of comb honej- con- 

 tains onlj" one pound of wax. 



ON THE HIVE OUESTIOX, T.\KE TO A TREE. 



C. P. Dadant seems to think the 10-frame Lang-stroth 

 hive a small hive. Most bee-folks began with that too- 

 small hive : and, suspecting it sized wrongU', they jumpt 

 from the frying pan into the fire by dropping to a still 

 smaller one. If they had started in with the 10-frame 

 Langstroth side by side with a really big hive, they would 

 have changed up to the big one. Well, Cogitator is not 

 prepared to dispute that, and still less prepared to assent to 

 it ; so to climb a friendly tree seems about the proper thing- 

 to do. 



PLAYIXG WITH THE FOUI, BROOD "FIRE." 



It is sad when wise and good men advise little children 

 to play with fire. Same when so good a man as McEvoy 

 (page 6) encourages experienced bee-folks to put healthy 

 colonies in foul-broody hives without disinfection. As often 

 as he does it, some of us must protest vigorously. Just as 

 good men as he encourage the children to play with the op- 

 posite kind of fire — teach that the danger is all in the hive 

 and debris, and in the bodies of the bee, and that it's non- 

 sense to fear contagion from the honey. (Scientific experi- 

 ments cited to prove it.) Between the two we should have 

 no protection at all against our great destroyer. 



VIRILITY OF DRONES FROM DRONE-LAYING QUEENS OK LAV- 

 ING WORKERS. 



That Australian example on page 10 seems to prove 

 that drones from a drone-laying queen are O. K., if; if only 

 there were not unknown Italians living in freedom some- 

 where near. Cogitator also thinks that laying-worker 

 drones are sometimes virile ; but the evidence he has to 

 offer would fall quite a bit short of complete proof. 



ORIGIN OF HONEY-DEW "UP HIGHER." 



Prof. Cook's leading idea, on page 17, may profitably 

 be rubbed in a great deal (even if the patients do get mad 

 and strike). It is the nature of theaphis to if/d'rf the juiciest 

 and most rapidly growing shoots and gather on these in 

 immense numbers. These shoots on a tall tree are at the 

 top, the whole tree from top to bottom being smeared with 

 sweet from thence. The sophomore bee-naturalist climbs 

 up into the tree half way, looks all around sharply, then 

 comes down and reports that there are no sap-sucking in- 

 sects on the tree, when the simple fact is that he did not 

 climb high enough to see one. Notice the most common 

 example — the grape aphis — and you'll see how it is at once 

 — myriads on a few tender tips, few or none anywhere else. 

 And these words about honej'-clevr, from the best scientific 

 authority on this continent, deserve to be hung up in our 

 minds, set in capitals, and perhaps sometimes displayed be- 

 fore the people : 



"IT IS A SECRETION AND NOT AN EXCRETION." 



That is to say, when it's good it's good, and when it's 

 bad it's bad. The way in which it is sprayed around ex- 

 poses it to admixture with various kinds of dirt ; and fungi 

 are sadly free to grow in and on it ; but it is not necessarily 

 vile, any more than milk is. (But the kind we had here last 

 summer was unnecessarily vile). 



HONEY FROM ITALI.^NS VS. THAT OF THE BLACKS. 



Mr Bates, on page 19, makes some headway with the 

 question, " Why Italian bees store better honey than the 

 blacks." Now if some one will tell us, Why black bees store 

 better honey than the Italians — why, then we'll have a mit- 

 ten on each hand. 



FASTENING BROOD FOUNDATION BY "CANDLE-LIGHT." 



Mr. Thompson's way of setting foundation is ingenious, 

 and also effective ; but I .suspect Dr. Miller, with the ordi- 

 nary saw-cut bar, and his beeswax candle (or half a dozen 

 of them) would securely put in about ten to his one. 



THE UNCOMBINED THE BEST TOOLS. 



Is it be.st, Mr. Bearden, to try to combine the hive-lever 

 with the propolis-.scraper ? I doubt it just a little. We 

 want the best lever and the best scraper : and combination 

 tools proverbially fall short of the uncombined. 



BEES FEEDING CAGKD QUEENS. 

 Dr. Miller mostly rubs in his own medicine pretty well, 

 and to have another doctor come around and tinker hardly 

 sounds in accordance with the fitness of things. I'll ven- 

 ture, however, to rub a little more on his answer about bees 

 feeding caged queens. I see no reason to doubt his conclu- 

 sions ; and it is of prime importance to remember that a 

 normal colony will somcli>ncs let them starve ; and that a 

 good, strong colony unqueened will always feed them. 

 (Doolittle wants us all to be queen-breeders, you remember.) 



WRONG ABOUT FACING HIVES. 



Guess Ben Honnett is wrong when he says (page 22> 

 that it is unimportant whether the hive faces east, west, 

 north or south. 



JOINT STOCK COMPANY A SMILE-PRODUCER. 



I indulged a smile at that Colorado joint stock company, 

 to be started on $160. mainly paid in truck. When it comes, 

 to cash expenses in securing a market, most bee-folks seem 

 to think that apiculture is all the same as religion. 



WOULD LIKE TO SEE THAT FIBER HONEY-PAIL. 



That fiber pail, on page 23, that holds cold water indefi- 

 nitely, and takes eight hours of hot water to soak its joints, 

 loose — well, I should like to see it. Would think it promis- 

 ing were it not for the one word— reliquefying. 



KIND WORDS DON'T "BRUISE" HARD. 



It is really good to hear, as we do on page 25, that the 

 subscribers are treating our editor to an avalanche of kind 

 words beyond all precedent. Send 'em on. Avalanches of 

 that sort don't bruise a fellow badlj- enough to require 

 arnica. 



"boiler's" BAGGED BEES. 

 The one thing in " Beedom Boiled Down " which I will 

 touch this time is the plan of transporting bees in a bag 

 separate from hive and combs. It may take a long time to 

 get all the details of this just right : but I am strongly im- 

 prest with the feeling that an important advance will some- 

 time be made on this line. But many stubborn noddles will 

 have to be trepanned first, to let in the fact that honey 

 alone is not adequate food for bees. In the hive thej' chew 

 cocoons, and lick out the dried larval food and excreta hid- 

 den between ; but if bagged long, some corresponding food 

 must be given. Cogitator has tried bagging bees, and dis- 

 covered that after awhile they tear the dead bodies of their 

 comrades apart, and suck the interior. 



THE EDITOR "OFF HIS (HONEY)-BASE." 



Probably our editor was a little off his base in intimat- 

 ing that a third of a section of honey, eaten as food, 

 with only such other viands as fitted in nicely, was an un- 

 reasonable meal. But first be sure that your stomach fully 

 tolerates honej'. Some stomachs do not. And if the honey 

 should be aught else than best quality (color not being 

 quality in this case) go slow on it. 



SALICYLIC ACID TO "SWEETEN"'' SOUR HONEY. 



A. W. Hart, page 29, wants salicylic acid to put in his 

 sour honey. Tut, tut 1 Unhealthy stuff. Feed it to the 

 pigs (not the acid, but the honey), and ripen up j'our honey 

 before vou extract it next time. Cogitator. 



York's Honey Almanac is a neat little 52-page pamph- 

 let especially g-otten up with a view to create a demand for 

 hone}' among should-be consumers. Aside from the Alma- 

 nac pages, the forepart of the pamphlet was written by Dr. 

 C. C. Miller, and is devoted to general information concern- 

 ing honey. The latter part consists of recipes for use in 

 cooking and as a medicine. It will be found to be a very 

 effective helper in working up a home market for honey. 

 We furnish them, postpaid, at these prices : A sample for 

 a stamp ; 25 copies for 40 cents ; 50 for 60 cents ; 100 for 

 SI. 00; 250 for $2.25; 500 for $4.00. For 25 cents extra we 

 will print your name and address on the front page, when 

 ordering 100 or more copies at these prices. 



Langstroth on the Honey = Bee, revised by the Dadants, 

 is a standard, reliable and thoroughly complete work on 

 bee-culture. It contains 520 pages, and is boutid elegantly. 

 Every reader of the American Bee Journal should have a 

 copy of this book, as it answers hundreds of questions thjit 

 ari.se about bees. We mail it for $1.25, or club it with the 

 Bee Journal for a vear — both for only $2.00. 



